The AESOP Task Force on AI in Planning is hosting a webinar on “AI in Planning” featuring two leading experts in the field: Professor Tom Sanchez of Texas A&M University and Professor Zhong-Ren Peng of the University of Florida.
This event will take place online on May 27th, from 15:30 to 17:00 CET (Central European Time)
Professor Zhong-Ren Peng, University of Florida
Symbiotic Planning Theory: From Compliance to Governance in Human–AI Co-Creation
Artificial intelligence is reshaping urban planning, but greater analytical capacity without governance can undermine democratic legitimacy. This presentation introduces Symbiotic Planning Theory, a new planning paradigm that treats AI neither as a passive tool nor as an autonomous decision-maker, but as a governed partner operating under human authority. Through the CORE framework - Collaboration, Options, Refinement, and Execution - it embeds equity constraints, public contestation, and time-bound reauthorization into planning processes. Drawing on the Gainesville micromobility case, the talk shows how procedural compliance can mask substantive inequity, and how governed human–AI co-creation can support accountable policy learning and reform.
Professor Tom Sanchez, Texas A&M University
Building the Planning Brain: Knowledge Management and AI for Public Planning Agencies
Nearly a century ago, H.G. Wells imagined a "world brain" that would receive, sort, and clarify humanity's scattered knowledge. Public planning agencies face a smaller version of the same problem: comprehensive plans, technical appendices, staff memos, and engagement records hold the agency's reasoning, but that knowledge is fragmented and often lost to turnover. This presentation outlines how an agency can build a Planning Brain, a knowledge system that grounds AI in its own documents. The process moves through five components, beginning with the step of defining the goals and objectives the system is meant to serve.
